When Don Carthel was coming out of Friona High School in the late 1960s, legendary West Texas State head football coach Joe Kerbel took an interest in him, recruiting Carthel to come to Canyon and play for the Buffs.

Carthel turned him down.

“I got to know (Kerbel) pretty good. I grew up watching him coach the Buffaloes,” Carthel said. “I went to the locker room at halftime just about every home game and kind of hung around. I watched and observed everything he was doing. I didn’t think I was tough enough to play for that man when I was in high school.”

Carthel went on to play and later be the head coach at Eastern New Mexico.

As fate would have it, Carthel will cross paths with Kerbel again — at least as far as a legacy.

Carthel needs two wins to pass Kerbel to become West Texas A&M’s career leader in victories with 69.

If the Buffs start 2-0, Carthel will set the record Sept. 8 when WT hosts Western State.

Carthel, who owns the best winning percentage in school history at 77.9 percent, isn’t putting too much emphasis on passing Kerbel, who died in 1973.

“I don’t put too much stock in the personal stuff,” Carthel said. “If there are any similarities, (Kerbel) went anywhere and everywhere for players, and we believe in doing the same thing. He treated his players good and really special and tried to make them feel like they were in a first-class program, and that’s what we try to do here — make them feel like they’re in a Division I atmosphere.”

Ah, a Division I atmosphere — if there’s any argument in the legacies of Carthel and Kerbel, that’s it.

As for numbers, there is no debate — Carthel will finish his career as the best coach in WT history.

However, many older Buffs fans will argue Kerbel was facing the likes of Texas Tech, Arizona State and Arizona back in WT’s Division I days — a step above the talent level in today’s Division II Lone Star Conference.

There’s probably an argument there, but not enough to wake WT’s D-I ghosts.

The Buffs have seven players on NFL rosters — and not all of them are driving around on the taxi squad.

That’s a number that would rival anything from WT’s D-I days, and that’s not including former Buffs quarterbacks Dalton Bell and Keith Null, both of whom were on NFL rosters in the past few years.

Even at the D-II level, players today are bigger, faster and stronger than players in the 1960s.

That’s not to say the Buffs of today would beat a team from the Kerbel era — or that former Buffs running back Eugene “Mercury” Morris wouldn’t shred defenses today just like he did in the late 1960s.

It is just that the overall talent level in the past 40 years has increased among all divisions — and really all sports.

More numbers: WT had two losing seasons under Kerbel. Carthel has not had a losing season in seven years at WT.

Before Carthel arrived in 2005, the Buffs had not had a winning season since 1998 and were a combined 15-50 in six seasons.

So, regardless of division, two more wins will mark the most successful coaching run in WT history.

Dave Henry is the Amarillo Globe-News assistant sports editor. He may be contacted at 806-345-3314 or david.henry@amarillo.com.

Info Box

■ The Buffs have their first preseason intrasquad scrimmage at 10 a.m. Saturday at Buffalo Sports Park in Canyon. The public is welcome. Admission is free.

Making History

■ WT head coach Don Carthel needs two wins to become the school’s career leader in victories.